On July 26, 2013, Ohearn called police and told police his mother, Nancy Ohearn, 78, had been shot and was dead. When officers arrived at the house in the 12100 block of East 46th Street, Richard Ohearn answered the door, and they found the victim lying face down on the floor.

A handgun and a box of ammunition was on a piano in the living room. The victim had a gunshot wound in the back and a head injury, the Jackson County medical examiner found.

Richard Ohearn said to police, "I killed my mother, didn't I?" as he was being removed from the back of a patrol wagon.

Another family member told police that Nancy Ohearn had spent the day with him, and that he had dropped her off at her home about 9:30 p.m. At that time, he saw Richard Ohearn, who appeared to have been drinking and who was upset because another relative was in town.